And for veggies, there's lotus root, oyster mushrooms, garlic cloves and danyinthee aka jengkol - a type of bean I adore even if it does cause djenkolism (jengkol bean poisoning), symptoms of which include "spasmodic pain, gout, urinary obstruction and acute renal failure".

And just to add insult to injury, it also gives you unholy flatulence. But no gain without pain, right?

So a short while after I hand my basket of goodies to the nearest waiter to be grilled, dish after dish begins to arrive.

Particularly good are the crunchy chunks of pigtail, as well as the separately ordered wet-thar dohto ("pig on a stick" ie piggy innards).

I'm also digging the crispy little sparrows which we crunch down, bones and all.

As expected, the danyinthee is wonderfully more-ish (similar to the sator bean you can get in this country), although hubby eyes it warily, identifies it as the "poo bean" and refuses to try it. More for me then.